


All Was Still

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Battle for Zendikar, Eldrazi, Fire Magic, Humans, Minotaur - Freeform, Other, Zendikar, kor - Freeform, merfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24791128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: A band of survivors makes a desperate stand against eldrazi forces, hoping to buy time for others to escape to what safety can be found.Based on a prompt to make a story for the card "Pyromancer's Assault"
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	All Was Still

“Quickly, through the pass! Run!”

A big minotaur waved his hand, urging the refugees through. The way ahead was narrow and crowded; bad news for those at the tail of the group.

Zara cursed, and coaxed the flame of her torch to burn brighter. Night was coming, and their pursuers wouldn’t be hampered by the sun’s absence.

“Above! Above!”

A spawn was skittering down the canyon walls, its claws outstretched, tentacles writhing horribly.

Zara thrust her hands up on instinct. Her torch clattered to the canyon floor. The air around her shoulders filled with heat, and coalesced into rippling balls of light. She willed them to protect her, and they began to ripple. Small tongues of flame licked outward, and…

…three small showers of sparks spat upward toward the spawn. It didn’t even shy away from the assault.

“Watch out!” A shoulder bowled Zara aside. One of the kor was there, slamming her hook into the spawn’s skull. It split with a _crack_ , and the kor yanked back on the rope, tearing the creature from the rock. It hit the ground, still writhing, and the rest of them fell on it, stabbing and striking with anything they could get their hands on.

Zara slumped against the rock, gasping. The orbs were floating around her, dripping embers.

Sparks. Always just sparks. Fine for scaring away wolves and lighting campfires, but not enough for this.

“Any more?”

“None on the walls!” The kor wiped her hook clean and looked toward the field of rocks behind them, just beyond the mouth of the canyon. “Only…oh no.”

There were shapes writhing in the growing darkness, ambling across the rocky terrain with unnatural speed.

Eldrazi.

“You all, with me!”

The minotaur strode past Zara, brandishing a hammer of grey steel. The kor was at his left with her hook, and a man with a round-tipped sword at his right. Two merfolk had peeled away from the others as well, walking back to the mouth of the pass with grim faces.

“If those spawn catch us in here, they’ll kill every living thing in the canyon.” The minotaur’s voice was powerful, but tired. “We have to hold them for as long as we - look out!”

One of the Eldrazi had sprinted far ahead of the others, and was mere meters from the mouth of the canyon. It must have run along one of the trenches, out of their sight. The six of them had barely two seconds to brace themselves before-

A massive hand lashed out, smashing one of the merfolk into the canyon wall. The other screamed and thrust at the hand with her trident. The man swung his sword at the eldrazi’s faceplate, while the kor and minotaur contended with the thing’s other two hands.

Zara ran to the side of the fallen merman. Sparks wouldn’t help against a monster like that. Best to try and help the fallen…

The merman’s head was bent at a right angle. There would be no helping him-

“Human! Move!”

Zara spun in time to brace her hands against the oncoming head of the eldrazi. Its arms were shattered, and now it lunged after an easier target.

The skull pressed forward. In a moment it would pin Zara against the rocks. A moment later…

No.

Zara pressed her hands against the eldrazi’s skull.

Not without a fight.

Zara screamed. Flames poured out of the orbs. Her hands super-heated. She could smell rotten eggs burning. The eldrazi pressed her against the canyon wall, and collapsed to the ground.

The blackened skull split, and a foul-smelling steam poured out, along with the slurry contents of the eldrazi’s head.

Zara stood, gasping. Both of the merfolk were dead, and the kor was supporting the man, whose arm and sword were gone entirely. They wouldn’t survive a second one, let alone a swarm.

She looked down; her own hands weren’t even blistered.

“Is that it?” The minotaur slammed his hammer against the canyon wall, teeth grit. “Is this how we die? Is this the best we can do??”

“Not even close.” Zara was surprised at how calm she felt. All of her fear, her agitation…it was outside of her now, flickering in the balls of fire around her. “All of you…run. Get the others clear. I can’t promise this will be safe.”

“What do you m-” The Kor fell silent as the heat in the air spiked.

“Go.”

None of them argued. The Kor gave Zara one last glance over her shoulder before disappearing into the pass.

The eldrazi were scrambling over the rocks, the fastest almost at the mouth of the canyon. Zara walked out to greet them.

She waited until the closest eldrazi was about ten yards away, and thrust her hands forward. 

Fire rushed from her palms. From the balls of light. More flame and heat than Zara had ever dreamed of conjuring. It poured out over the eldrazi in streams, the sheer force of it bowling the smaller ones over, and roasting the closest to writhing cinders.

She cut of the fire to survey the damage.

They were still coming. Half the eldrazi were covered in flame, but they were still coming.

Zara had expected unearthly scream. Howls. To watch the Eldrazi rush forward silently, maned with fire, was somehow worse. A few fell, but even more surged forward.

Fine. Zara flexed her fingertips. If they needed more fire, they would have it. Not like she was saving it for later.

Heat flooded through the canyon. Flames covered the stony fields. No screams, no cries. Just the crackle and roar of fire.

***

The sun rose the next day on chalky rock and black lumps, still smoking in the red light of dawn. As rays stretched along the pass, the stone grew darker, the smoking lumps less frequent closer to the canyon’s mouth.

About a hundred yards into the pass, the lumps stopped, and the ground was plain rock, untainted.

All was still in the canyon.

_“All Was Still” is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


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